The Louche F.C.

Like most major cities, Manchester attracts people with a can-do attitude, especially in regards to music. Whilst the DIY scene might not be central to the area’s culture, it’s certainly a thriving part of it, with Comfortable on a Tightrope, Underachievers Please try Harder, Pull Yourself Together and many others being at the heart of a scene that is happy to promote new bands with a disregard for the financial implications. Sadly missing for the last couple of months has been the splendid Red Deer Club, who in the past have been responsible for releases by the likes of Young British Artists, Awesome Wells and The Moulettes amongst many, many others.

Thankfully, RDC appears to be on the way back to the fore, with a gig at Fuel café bar booked as the label’s homecoming. Along with every other promoter in the region, they’ve chosen the wonderful Brown Brogues to appear alongside Paddy Steer, an artist who’s already had the pleasure of appearing on the imprint. The final act is a somewhat more mysterious addition, however. Though their myspace URL claims they’re ‘thebicycletheivesuk’, rather beguilingly, they’re called The Louche F.C.. Despite having the name of a 5-a-side football team, they stay away from the pitfalls of lad-rock with some splendour with a sound that borders on shoegaze without the label ever really feeling truly apt. Instead, they make a textured, distant racket that changes personality with every track – the only consistency being that they’re all thoroughly enjoyable, dabbling with distortion, harmonies and heavy riffs.

Their music does, at times, feel like somewhat of a throwback to a bygone era, but it’s charming due to that fact. At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be much material about, and two of the tracks online are yet to feature vocals – but that’s another reason to get down to Fuel on August 20th and see the trio in the flesh, especially considering it’s free entry